


Changing

by earlgreyteawrites



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender, klance - Fandom
Genre: Angst, Fluff, Galra Keith, Hurt/Comfort, KEITH FIC, M/M, Sick Fic, broganes, klance fic, lance fic, vld fic - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-04
Updated: 2018-12-04
Packaged: 2019-09-07 13:40:32
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 16,364
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16855027
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/earlgreyteawrites/pseuds/earlgreyteawrites
Summary: Something weird has been happening ever since Keith got to the castle, something strange. He can't quite place his finger on it, all he knows is things shouldn't be like this right now. Hopefully nobody will notice and it will just go away. Yeah....maybe it will go away.





	1. Part 1

    Keith stared quietly at the ceiling in his bedroom. It had been what felt like the longest day of his life. A battle with a stupid galran base, three team bonding exercises; and just to put that cherry on top, he fought with Lance for at least a good two or maybe even three hours.

    Normally Keith never got stressed to the point where it actually felt bad, he was great under pressure, it made him concentrate, it made him functional. But this, this made him dysfunctional.

    Sure, trying to save the universe from a bunch of aliens that were enslaving and torturing races was stressful in it of itself, but things like this shouldn’t bother Keith. He’d been through much worse than this.

    Stress from losing his dad.

    Stress from being possibly kicked out of school.

    Stress from the possibility of disappointing Shiro at the Garrison.

    Stress from losing Shiro.

    He’d seen it all. A lost fight from a base, team bonding and fighting shouldn’t make him freak out like this. He felt panicked, afraid almost. He hadn’t even been able to show up for dinner. But the thing that just made it worse was…he didn’t understand the problem! There shouldn’t have been a problem. He went through this sort of thing every single day, so why was it today that had made him completely lose it?

    He hadn’t hit that sentry, sure, that had ticked him off a little bit.

    True, he had kept disobeying Allura and going more solo when it came to the team bonding, but it wasn’t like she’d screamed at him or anything. She knew that was exceptionally hard for him to do.

    And Lance, the whole fighting thing with Lance may have hurt his feelings a little, considering Lance was still making fun of his hair (Keith didn’t see what’s wrong with it).

    But none of that stuff was something to get worked up about!

    Keith tossed onto his side, hating himself a little bit longer as he now stared at his empty, dark, room. Maybe it was the headache that was getting to him. Hopefully that was it. After all, it was kind of bad. He’d had to turn off the lights and clasped headphones over his ears so he could be comfortable, or at least as comfortable as he could get. Right now, he was just stressed and everything honestly kind of ached. Keith figured that was from all of the times he had to slam Red around during the mission. He must’ve gotten some bruises or something.

    Oh how wrong he was.

    In the back of his head, Keith knew this wasn’t right. He knew those purple splotches on his arms and legs didn’t really look like bruises, they just looked weird, if not creepy. And he knew that this headache wasn’t normal, that these aches weren’t normal and that this stress was not normal. But Keith only believed it when a terrible pain suddenly ripped through his body.

    And Keith screamed.

 

* * *

**Lance**

 

    Lance felt like every time he took a step he was going to fall. Lance never skipped out on leg day, so he knew by then that he had definitely gotten a good workout. He was definitely feeling groggy despite having dinner, which normally made him energized, but Hunk had fallen asleep which meant only plain green food goo. Lance had reluctantly eaten it, but only because he wasn’t going to starve tonight. But of course, that meant dissatisfaction and a painfully hard walk to the dining room and back to his room. And that also meant he had to pass Keith’s room, and boy was he ticked off at Keith today.

    They’d fought for a good three hours, not that Lance was keeping track of course. But if Keith hadn’t made that comment about his reckless shooting, Lance would’ve never retorted about his stupid sword swinging and started this whole big mess.

    But right now, Lance couldn’t even groan in agitation as he saw Keith’s room a good thirty feet in front of him. Lance hated having the room next to Keith. Not only because Lance just kind of hated Keith in general, but also because…he started to think about…things. Things like how cute Keith would look if he was sleeping next to him. Or maybe what his bed head looked like. Possibly even how soft his skin would be in the morning. What if Keith drooled, or maybe even snored? Lance forced himself to believe that it wasn’t because he thought it would be cute, but instead how he could use it for blackmail. Although, even Lance himself knew in the very back of his head that it wasn’t true.

    Reluctantly, Lance dragged his feet up to Keith’s room, getting the sight of his own room just a few more seconds away. The minute he reached the room he could plunge his aching legs into the tub and hopefully even take a nice, long and very relaxing bath. That is, if he didn’t fall asleep in the tub the minute his body made contact with the warm water. He had nearly drowned himself twice doing that as a fifteen year old when his growing pains were at their very worst.

    But just as Lance was reaching out to open his door, a scream echoed through the hallway. It was sharp, definitely something that signaled pain. And worst of all, it was coming from Keith’s room.

    If Lance knew anything about this hallway, it was that nobody could hear you scream here unless you were in the same hallway. And that meant two things. One, nobody was going to come for help. Two, Lance needed to do something. But regardless, Lance would’ve done something anyways whether he wanted to admit it or not.

    He sprinted, completely forgetting the horrible ache in his legs as he ran up to his friend’s door. Lance slammed his hand onto the keypad, hoping it would open his door. But to his horror, it was locked from the inside. And that meant he couldn’t get inside without voice command.

    “Keith!” Lance yelled, feeling the panic rise in his voice. What had happened? Why did he scream and then suddenly just stop? What was going on? Lance couldn’t stop thinking about the worst possible things as he slammed his hand into the door, trying to open it with all his might.

    Out of nowhere, pained noises started to echo from his room. Keith was hyperventilating loud enough to hear it through the door. Lance had broken both arms and his left leg before, so he knew that had to mean something really really bad. He slapped his hand onto the panel again, and to his immediate relief Keith had been loud enough for the door to open with voice command.

    The minute Lance rushed in, he paused, barely able to look at the horror story happening on Keith’s bed.

    His friend was curled into a tight ball, sweat pouring down his entire body. He was panting and sobbing all at once, clearly from pain. And when Lance turned on the lights, he was greeted with an even worse sight.

    Purple splotches, everywhere. Lance felt like he was going to vomit. It looked like his arms and legs were covered with different stages of terrible bruises, his face being the only place free from the splotches. And not only that, but his black hair had frizzed up in an unnatural way, kind of like a cat puffing up, only terrifying.

    For a moment, Lance didn’t know what to do. The only thing he could think of was to rush over to his side and yell,

    “Keith!” which earned a deep cringe from Keith. Lance immediately felt bad, lowering his voice quickly, “Keith, buddy what happened? What’s going on? Are you sick?” he breathed, voice as panicked as he felt. The only thing Keith could do to respond was let out a small sob mixed with a groan of agony.

    “Hurts.” he slurred, blinded and unaware of everything due to the extreme pain he was feeling. Everything to him felt fuzzy, he hardly even registered that Lance was there, he hadn’t even heard what Lance had asked him. “Help.” he begged desperately.

    Lance looked around frantically, trying to find something, anything to help. His eyes ended up landing on a water bottle. It wasn’t much, but Keith was sweating everywhere. Water didn’t fix everything, but since Lance didn’t know what the heck to do, he might as well try this.

    He grabbed the water bottle, uncapping it and putting it up to Keith’s mouth. Keith sobbed as Lance carefully tried to get him to drink.

    Keith couldn’t breathe. He choked a little, trying to get whatever this was out of his mouth, but ended up spitting it all over the bed.

    For just half a second, the pain lessened and he managed to gulp down the remaining water in his mouth. But of course, nothing really lasted. Almost right away it all came back, stinging and burning like fire on his skin.

    Lance felt awful. He’d made Keith choke and not only that but he’d made everything worse. Now Keith was soaked, still sweating, still in pain and…woah. Wait.

    Lance paused, gazing at the splotches. They hadn’t exactly gone away, but the color wasn’t as bright of a purple. It was more of a lighter purple. And when the water had spilled, Keith had paused…

    A crazy idea popped into Lance’s head. He shot away from Keith’s bed, running into his bathroom. He sighed with relief when he found the tub, cranking up the water levels. It filled within seconds, just like all altean tubs did, giving Lance a little spark of hope as he tested the water. Just right.

    Lance ran back, collecting Keith in his arms. This earned a good cluster of horrible pained screams. They echoed off the walls of his room and into his hall.

    “I’m sorry, I’m so sorry.” Lance whispered, trying to calm Keith down the best he could, but that was hard considering he was in so much pain. But thankfully, he reached the bathroom quickly and set Keith onto the floor, beginning the quick task of undressing him.

    The splotches were everywhere. It was freaky. They spread like those video examples of bacteria multiplying in biology. It was growing and spreading all around his body, slowly creeping up his neck and into his hair. And if that wasn’t creepy enough, the fact that it was putting Keith in blinding pain wasn’t any help. But Lance knew that he needed to stay calm. Freaking out wasn’t an option, that would just make everything so much worse.

    Lance tore away Keith’s pants, leaving him exposed to the cold of the bathroom, sitting in only his underwear on the freezing tiled floor. Lance didn’t want to embarrass him like this, but it was for the best. He’d rather Keith be humiliated and possibly yell at him later than writhing in pain for who knows how long.

    Last but not least, Lance carefully pulled off Keith’s headphones, sliding them over his head and…woah. Ears. Big, fluffy purple ears. Galra ears. Lance would have hesitated, but now was not the time. He quickly set the headphones to the side, scooping Keith up into his arms and plunging him into the altean bathtub, holding his head carefully above the water.

    Keith let out a loud gasp, struggling for more air as the water began to calm his pain. Lance relaxed as Keith rested his head against Lance’s chest, breathing deeper and longer. The purple splotches faded very, very slowly, but they faded nonetheless. Lance could feel the fuzziness of Keith’s new purple ears on his neck. They were slowly fading too, but Lance couldn’t tell whether that was a good or a bad thing. He kind of liked the purple ears.

    Lance wrapped his arms tightly around Keith, keeping him close as the purple faded a little bit more. Lance thought he understood what happened for the most part. Keith’s body had been trying to morph into a galra form. He was half galra, which could mean that his body had been fighting between the two. He didn’t know why water had helped soothe Keith’s purple splotches, but he wasn’t about to complain. Keith was safe now. He was okay. That’s what mattered most of all.

 

* * *

**Keith**

 

    Keith didn’t understand what had happened at first. One minute he was on his bed, then he was screaming and couldn’t really hear or see anything aside from Lance. Now he was half naked in the bath and breathing on Lance’s chest?

    Everything had happened so fast he didn’t understand and he’d been in so much pain that he couldn’t even try to piece together what had happened in the first place.

    Lance was hugging him tightly, like he was terrified Keith would suddenly fall into another screaming fit. Keith could feel Lance’s head pressing deep into his own.

    Keith turned to glance up, both confused and disoriented as he was met with Lance’s slightly watery eyes.

    “What’s going on?” he asked, but his voice was slurred from pain and now exhaustion. His mouth felt numb and tingly, just like the rest of his body. He could hardly even process what was happening because he was half focused on the way his skin felt. Almost like there were bubbles covering it, like he was in a hot tub without the hot part.

    “I don’t know. Please just rest.” Lance begged. Keith didn’t understand why Lance sounded so worried, but he didn’t even think about arguing his request. Keith pressed his face back into Lance’s chest, letting his arms hang limply at his side as Lance hugged him tight in the water. Lance was soaked, Keith noticed. His jacket sleeves were plunged in the water along with Keith and his chest was wet with what Keith assumed was his own sweat. Great, just fantastic. And Lance’s hair had tiny little droplets of water, like he had just walked through a small drizzle of rain. Now Keith felt kind of bad, but it was still fuzzy. He hardly even understood the guilt he was feeling he felt so disoriented.

    He didn’t even understand it when he started to cry. He just kind of wanted to. Keith had been in pain and he was just so, so, so confused. What was going on? Why was this happening-

    “It’s okay.” Lance’s voice reached his ears, a very apparent worry blossoming in his voice. Apparent enough that Keith could barely manage to understand, “Don’t cry, please don’t cry. It’s all okay now. You’re safe. Everyone’s coming over to our hallway now. We’re going to bring you to the med bay to find out what happened, okay?” Lance reached out of the water to wipe Keith’s tears away, which was kind of pointless seeing as he was already wet and ended up smearing more water all over Keith’s face, but Keith couldn’t bring himself to care. He just wanted to cry.

    “What’s going on?” Keith begged again through his soft sobs, his voice still slurred, “Why did it hurt? Why-”

    “Shh.” Lance tried to silence him, but Keith wasn’t having it. He wanted to understand.

    “Why do I feel weird?” he sniffled. Lance wiped away some more of his tears.

    “…I don’t know.” Lance replied quietly, “I just…When I found you, you were covered in these purple splotches and your ears had turned galra. You had purple wolf ear kind of things.” he tried to explain pathetically. The answer was good enough for Keith. Good enough that he managed to stop sobbing, but sadly not crying.

    “It hurts.”

    “I know, I know.” Lance whispered quickly, keeping Keith submerged in the water. A dull ache kept running through Keith, running from his feet to his head. It thrummed rapidly like a heartbeat, constantly keeping him in discomfort. “We’re going to figure out exactly what this is, okay?”

    “Okay.”


	2. Part 2

**Lance**

    It seemed like forever to Lance, but the others finally came. They flocked around Keith’s bathtub, talking rapidly to one another and asking questions. The noise and all of the things happening must’ve really stressed Keith out because he started to go back to sobbing again.

    It was only then that everyone shut up.

    Lance held Keith close, trying to comfort him by talking softly. Mostly saying things like ‘it’s going to be okay’ and ‘it’s alright, calm down’. Lance may not have been an expert at what Keith needed right now, but he was definitely an expert on comforting. Obviously, nobody had any sort of idea about what may have been happening to Keith, but that didn’t change the fact that Keith needed some sort of comfort and affection.

    “So you said he’s turning purple?” Allura asked quietly, a look of concern growing on her face as she turned to Coran. “What do you think that means?” Coran didn’t know what to say, after all the only galra he’d ever interacted with were ones they were fighting. At least, not including The Blade. He didn’t know what this meant or what this could lead to. It was definitely concerning.

    “I’m sorry princess, I don’t know. But this has to be related to his galra heritage.” Coran sighed, looking at the tiny, crumpled figure beneath them.

    “When he was little…” Shiro mumbled, his voice still nasal from the cold he’d had for the past couple days, “If he got really stressed he would have fits.” Shiro rubbed his chin for a minute, trying to get a clearer memory. “He would get temper tantrums and get bruises from punching things, but, they didn’t really look like bruises. They looked like those.” sadly, this information didn’t really help. It just increased the tenseness of the room.

    “…What about we contact Kolivan?” Hunk suggested a little bit nervously, peeking over at Keith. Keith was looking better than before, but not by much. The purple things were fading very slowly, slowly enough that it was almost aggravating to watch. Because why wouldn’t they just go away?

    “That’s a good idea.” Lance mumbled back, wiping away some more of Keith’s tears. “Kolivan has a bunch of half galran aliens at The Blade. Maybe he knows what this is.” Keith was trembling in his arms.

    “It hurts.” Keith moaned pitifully, more tears streaking down his face. Everyone cringed with empathy for the poor red paladin. He wasn’t doing well. What made it worse was that nobody really understood why.

    “I’ll contact him now.” Allura said quietly, pulling out a communicator. She pressed buttons which nobody could really understand, but it didn’t matter. Pidge didn’t even ask for a translation as she watched Keith cry in the tub.

    “How did you figure out the water helped?” she asked quietly to Lance, sitting down besides him.

    “He was sweating everywhere and giving him water was all I could think of.” Lance mumbled, “It’s okay buddy, I know.” he pet Keith hair, letting him cry into his chest until his jacket felt soggy. “Some of the water splashed onto him and the purple stuff went away. So, I brought him here.” Pidge nodded, as if trying to analyze the situation of Keith’s bodily state through some sort of genius science technique.

    “Greetings Princess Allura.” everyone jumped as the communicator echoed through the bathroom. Allura sighed with relief, smiling gratefully at the holographic projection in front of her.

    “Greetings Kolivan.” she replied, “We need your help with the red paladin.” Kolivan had a curious look on his face at the mention of that. Everyone knew Kolivan had taken to Keith after figuring out his galra heritage.

    “What may I assist you with?” he asked, formal as always. Allura turned the camera of the communicator so that it faced Keith. Kolivan’s eyes widened with a slight surprise and a mild bit of embarrassment. He coughed in a slightly awkward way. “Oh. I see.” he mumbled, obviously a little bit uncomfortable. “I believe he in going through a common phase of The Changing. It is very typical for beings of half galran heritage.”

    “What does that mean?” Allura asked, voice obviously a little bit urgent.

    “It is your…ahem, equivalent of puberty.” he mumbled, cheeks glowing with embarrassment. Pidge became extremely uncomfortable as well, seeing as she was obviously still going through it, but nobody else really was. This might’ve been an awkward subject to discuss with a political leader though, so it was no surprise Kolivan was so flustered.

    “Why is he in pain if it’s typical?” Shiro asked. Kolivan continued to look awkward, shifting his weight from foot to foot.

    “Pain occurs only when he is pressured excessively by stress. I see you’ve already discovered already that the water eases it.” he replied, “I will send you more information about this if you wish, but I would prefer not to explain aloud.” he mumbled, beginning to tap some sort of odd computer. The communicator in Allura’s hand gave a little ‘bing!’. Allura sighed with relief.

    “Thank you, we appreciate this. I apologize for such an awkward subject.”

“It’s quite alright.” Kolivan replied, though he was clearly still flustered. Allura turned off the communicator, pulling up the information about Keith. There were a good ten pages of basic information that she looked through quickly, her own cheeks flushing as she scanned through it.

    “Oh…” she mumbled, “No wonder he was so awkward.” she looked up at everyone for a moment, shifting her weight for a couple of seconds. “I…believe it is best that you leave while I explain this information to Keith.” she mumbled, rubbing the back of her neck. Everyone understood, leaving Keith’s bathroom immediately. At least, everyone aside from Lance. He didn’t want to leave. He wanted to know what was going on, why it was happening and at least one or two ways he could help. “Lance-”

    “I’m staying here.” Lance mumbled, holding Keith a little bit tighter.

    “Lance, this is private-”

    “If this is something he’s going to need help with I want to know. We’re a team, if this is long term we’re all going to have to help, we can’t just be left in the dark about this.” Allura hesitated for a moment, but decided it was best to simply give in.

    She knelt besides the tub, sighing softly and enlarging the text so Keith could read it as she explained things. Lance felt his eyes widen a little bit at the words that had been written.

    “…The Changing is a form of puberty in which many half galran beings go through. It typically shows slight indication in early adolescence, but mainly occurs during the first six months of adulthood. The Changing lasts up to six weeks.

    First stages of the changing include, cramps, excessive…bowel movements.” Allura definitely seemed a little awkward at that, “excessive hair growth on the head and occasionally on arms and legs, vomiting and confusion/delusion. Also if stressed during any stage during The Changing, the being will experience headaches and bodily aches for up to an hour before excessive pain overtakes the body and renders them helpless. (Only known cure: submerging being within water). These effects will last for the first two weeks.” Allura gazed at Keith with a sympathetic look. Keith had obviously heard everything she said, because now as he cried his face was getting redder and redder. Lance continued to keep Keith close to him, hoping to somehow calm him down just a little bit more.

    “Hey, it’s alright.” Lance mumbled as Keith buried his nose into Lance’s chest. “None of us are judging you.”

    “Lance is right.” Allura said softly, “We understand this is hard for you, we will be here to help you through this.” she placed her hand on his shoulder, continuing to read, “Second stages of The Changing include, night terrors, sleepwalking, discomfort/pain in…lower body. Over awareness, sensitivity to light and sound, and slurred speech. These effects last for the third and fourth week.

    Third stages of The Changing include, extreme nausea, mood swings, cravings, excessive need to…urinate, irritation in sensitive areas, difficulty to breathe and…” Allura stopped for a second. “…Bleeding through all bodily openings in the face…these effects last for the last two weeks.” she shivered. Lance did too. The thought of Keith bleeding through his nose, eyes, ears and mouth was incredibly disturbing. “Once all stages have passed, the being will likely have changed in three places. The ears, the hair, and the skin. Commonly, the being is only affected by one of these three.

    When effected, ears will become fluffy and long, shaping into the typical structure of galra ears.

    When effected, hair will remain same color, but some strands will contain a slight purple hue.

    When effected, small specks of skin along the arms, legs and neck will change from typical color to a light purple. This condition is known as the vitiligo effect, making the being appear as if they have paint splattered across their body. It is known as the most beautiful result of The Changing.

    Once all is complete during The Changing, the being shall never experience any of the effects or pain from stress again. It is highly suggested that through all of these stages, the being is never left alone for more than a dobash at a time. If the being is unaccompanied at any time, there is a high risk that the being could be seriously injured during any of these effects of The Changing.” Allura finished, looking both worried and flustered. Lance could understand why she didn’t want the other paladins to hear, some of the information had definitely seemed really embarrassing in a lot of ways. Obviously that was true, seeing as Keith’s face was as red as a stoplight and he was now sobbing softly against Lance.

    “…I’ll stay with him.” Lance suggested, “…When my sister was pregnant, she went through similar things as his effects. I know how to handle a lot of this.” he mumbled, looking down at Keith.

    “Okay. I’ll try to explain this to the rest of the paladins what is going on without humiliating Keith.” she sighed, sliding out of the holo-book and leaving the bathroom to talk to the remaining paladins. Lance knew there was no way Keith wouldn’t be humiliated by this point.

    Now Lance and Keith were alone, staring at one another quietly as Keith sat inside of the tub, watching the last of the purple splotches fade from his skin. The ears he’d grown were now gone, replaced by his normal ones. For the most part, he looked like he felt a whole lot better than before, at least, aside from the crying. Knowing that Keith was confused and delusional just made Lance feel even worse for Keith. Keith had obviously registered what Allura had explained, but maybe that had just made everything worse. Keith was still upset. He was still crying and he was still hurting (which now Lance assumed was not because of the purple splotches and instead cramps). This was embarrassing and something he had no control over. He probably felt so helpless and Lance couldn’t do much to help him think otherwise. So Lance let Keith cry until Keith could only sob dryly, unable to produce more tears. The whole time he could hear Allura through the door explaining things to the paladins on the other side. Hopefully Keith was to busy sobbing to notice. Thankfully, Keith didn’t, seeing as he ended up falling asleep against Lance’s now completely soaked jacket. Hopefully he would be okay in the morning.

* * *

**Keith**

 

    Keith woke up to the smell of vanilla and cookies. He still felt weird, almost like he suddenly got dumber. He couldn’t piece it all together. Why was he dressed now and what was that amazing smell coming from? Why was Lance sleeping on his floor? And why did his stomach hurt so much?

    He sat up, trying to understand what the heck was going on. But Keith regretted the action the second his head left the pillow. Oh god. Keith didn’t even bother to toss off his blanket, running towards the bathroom and accidentally kicking Lance in the side during the process, but he couldn’t apologize. The minute he reached the bathroom, Keith bent over the toilet and vomited inside. His throat burned as waves of nausea pounded his stomach. He felt horrible. Was this some sort of space disease? Didn’t Allura tell him something last night? What was going on?

    Keith wanted to cry, but he forced himself not to. He hardly remembered anything from last night, but he at least knew one thing, and that was how much he’d cried. Hours, literally hours. It didn’t matter if he was throwing up and if the stinging in his throat made his eyes burn. He wouldn’t cry again.

    Keith choked out the last of whatever had been in his throat. The bathroom now smelled disgusting now and his toilet was filled with many previous dinners. Not to mention, it was everywhere. How was he going to use the bathroom now? He couldn’t even get himself off of the floor. Just as Keith was about to give up, the door swooshed open.

    Lance was standing there, disoriented and clearly exhausted. But despite that, he didn’t even bat a lash as he saw Keith lying there helplessly. He simply grabbed some towels and carefully cleaned off the toilet and the bathroom floor.

    Keith could hardly believe it as Lance used the altean towels to absorb up his mess and disinfect the place (yes, altean towels could do that).

    “What are y-” Keith tried to ask, but his stomach lurched. Next thing he knew he had projectile vomited all over Lance and himself.

    Lance’s face crumpled with slight disgust, but he simply sighed, pulling off his t-shirt and throwing it down the laundry chute that had been very conveniently next to him. Keith turned, aiming his mouth down into the toilet. He felt his cheeks burning like crazy. Lance was helping him and he’d just vomited on him. But before any more bad thoughts could haunt him, Lance was by his side.

    “Woah, I knew your aim was bad, but wow.” he joked. That did not make Keith fell better.

    “Says the guy who can hardly finish level two in the training ro- blegh!” Keith hunched over the toilet.

    “Wow, a ‘thanks for helping me’ would’ve been nice.” Lance grumbled, crossing his arms and letting out a deep sigh as Keith continued to rid himself of everything in his stomach. Lance couldn’t be mad at Keith, especially not now when he was so helpless. “…Hey, come here.” he mumbled as Keith finished emptying his stomach. Obviously, Keith couldn’t even try to move, so he didn’t, but Lance ended up pulling him closer anyways.

    Lance carefully pressed the towels to Keith’s face, wiping away all of the vomit carefully from his mouth and hair. Then, once he was satisfied, he carefully grabbed the hem of Keith’s shirt.

    “What are you-”

    “Helping.” Lance mumbled, beginning to pull the ruined shirt off of Keith’s body. Keith felt too sick to protest. Anyways, it was uncomfortably hot and slimy. He said nothing as Lance tossed it down the laundry chute. For a minute, Keith was relieved. The nausea had faded, replaced with an empty hunger. He much preferred that to throwing up. He leaned against Lance, cold and bare chested in his bathroom. An odd wave of nostalgia hit him. And it was only then he remembered everything. Or at least, everything after he relaxed from the pain.

    For a moment, Keith felt like he couldn’t breathe. Because, wow, that actually happened. His cheeks flushed horribly red as he rested against Lance, finally aware of everything that had happened. And Lance knew exactly what was going on.

    “Wait…I’m-”

    “Going through the worst puberty ever, yes.” Lance confirmed. Keith just felt even worse.

    “And Allura-”

    “Told me everything.” he finished. Now Keith felt hot and uncomfortable all over. Lance knew about this, everything about this.

    “Why didn’t Shiro stay?” Keith mumbled, feeling stupid now.

    “Shiro offered, but I didn’t let him, he still has that fever. It might get worse if he’s exerting himself.” …oh. That was kind of selfish for Keith to think. He went quiet, leaning away from Lance. He didn’t want to have to depend on someone, especially for something as embarrassing as this. But…he had no choice, he could hardly move without throwing up, and not to mention, he just felt horrible in general.

    Keith sighed deeply, wanting to just disappear as he sat in awkward silence in front of Lance.

    “I don’t need a caretaker,” Keith grumbled, “I’m fine by myself.”

    “Uhm, says the guy that was lying on the floor covered in vomit five minutes ago.” Lance retorted in an almost snarky way that was definitely agitating. Keith wanted to reply, but before he could, the area around his stomach felt a sharp pain. For a second he actually thought he’d been stabbed as he looked frantically down at himself. There was no knife or object or anything that could’ve stabbed him.

    Keith took in a sharp breathe, trying not to whimper out of pain. He bit his lip as hard a he could, forcing down groans and yells as he wrapped his arms around himself.

    “Ow.” he whispered, “Ow, ow, what’s happening?” he demanded to Lance, out of breathe from the horrible tightness in his hips. Lance was quit for a second, as if he was trying to register what was going on. He took a few more moments to analyze the problem before making the connection.

    “Cramps.” Lance replied. Keith tried not to let it out, but a groan came out anyways. “Uhm…uh.” Lance mumbled, kind of looking around.

    Next thing Keith knew, he was being helped to his bed and carefully tucked inside.

    “Why does it hurt so bad?” he whimpered, trying to stop the pain by curling up in multiple different positions, but none of them helped longer than a couple minutes. Lance got something that was the altean equivalent to a heating pad and fit it over his belly, which kind of helped, but not really.

    “…I can give you a massage?” Lance suggested, sounding a little awkward. Keith was in too much pain to refuse the offer. He nodded rapidly, watching as Lance pushed aside the sheets and moved to hover over his stomach. “…My sister, Veronica, used to get really bad period cramps. I’d do this all the time.” he said in a slightly nostalgic voice. But despite being a little bit surprised Lance had opened up to him, Keith felt even more uncomfortable, seeing as his pain was being compared to period cramps.

    Before Keith could come up with a retort, Lance hands slowly began to wander around his belly. He carefully kneaded the skin, getting all of the right places to ease the agony happening in Keith’s stupid half galran body. Keith sighed deeply, feeling relief as the pain was eased by Lance’s tanned fingers.

    “Feels better, doesn’t it?” Lance asked, earning an,

    “Mhm.” from Keith, followed by another soft sigh. “…How long is this going to go on for?” he mumbled. Lance looked like he felt really bad for Keith all of a sudden.

    “Er…two weeks-”

“What?!”

    “-but only for these symptoms. The whole thing lasts six weeks…” Lance cringed a little bit, waiting for Keith to react.

    Keith wanted to scream. He was going to sit here uselessly for a month and a half. They were in the middle of a war for god’s sake. Keith needed to help, he needed to be there so they could form Voltron. How was he supposed to keep up like this?

    Keith grabbed the pillow nearest to him and shoved it over his face, screaming as loud as he could. It didn’t feel good on his throat, seeing as his throat was already burning, but screaming at least made him feel a little better about it.

    Lance continued to massage Keith’s stomach despite his screaming and kicking. It almost looked like he was having a tantrum, but Lance couldn’t blame poor Keith.

    This was going to be a long six weeks.


	3. Part 3

**Lance**

    Taking  care of Keith was exhausting and incredibly intrusive. It wasn’t exactly Keith’s fault he was like this, so Lance didn’t blame him, it was just annoying in general.

    Keith was in the bathroom almost every waking second, most of the time vomiting up whatever Lance had managed to feed him. Lance’s hands had actually gone a little numb from rubbing towels against Keith’s face and cleaning the floor just about every five minutes. Not to mention, cleaning him off was getting harder and harder. Keith’s hair had grown almost a full three inches within those five days, leaving him with long hair, perfect for vomit to get stuck too. Now Lance couldn’t even make mullet jokes because Keith didn’t have one anymore.

    Lance almost collapsed with relief when Hunk came in and took over for a few hours. But regardless, Lance still stayed and watched. It may have been five days so far of very little sleep and constant work, but, it wasn’t anything he couldn’t handle.

    Over the past five days, Keith had gone out of his room once. He could hardly walk, mostly because when he wasn’t vomiting he was sitting on the toilet and when he wasn’t sitting on the toilet he had cramps. It was a vicious cycle and the only reason he had left was because he was trying to follow Lance to the kitchen and ended up being kicked back into bed.

    As for Lance, when he wasn’t taking care of Keith, he was going on small missions that took no more than and hour and occasionally catching around five or six hours of sleep (which obviously wasn’t quite enough). He could only go when Keith was asleep and if someone could take care of him, because otherwise it would definitely not end well.

    Hunk coming over to help was definitely good for Lance at this point. He would’ve asked sooner, but he and Pidge were constantly needing to go on small well prepared missions and repair stuff. It was similar for the rest of the paladins. Allura was always busy with political matters and so was Coran. And Shiro was also sick in bed with a high fever and hardly did anything other than sleep. But at least Shiro deserved a good nap. What made everything more difficult was the fact that Keith couldn’t nap. In turn, that meant Lance couldn’t sleep either. But at least Hunk was here now.

    “You think you can keep this down?” Hunk asked Keith, watching as Keith fed himself some pinkish colored food goo. His hands were shaking with constant hunger, seeing as he was vomiting at least twice every hour.

    “No.” Keith grumbled, but ate anyways. He was clearly starving, so whether he could keep it down for more than an hour wasn’t an issue right now.

    “…This really sucks.” Hunk sighed, pressing down a heating pad to Keith’s aching body. “Sorry you have to go through this man, it isn’t fair.” Keith didn’t reply, barely able to get the spoon into his mouth. Lance watched as Hunk pampered Keith with his food, trying to make him comfortable.

    Hunk wasn’t massaging Keith’s stomach like Lance would’ve. And why did he prop him up like that? Over the past five days Lance knew exactly what to do to make him comfortable. Not that he really cared…or anything. He totally hadn’t made a schedule or anything to keep track of Keith’s new cycle of constant suffering to help him or anything. Lance obviously didn’t want to do this. Why would he want to be around Keith almost twenty four hours a day? He hated the guy…

    “Hunk.” Keith suddenly squeaked. The spoon he was holding landed on the ground with a clatter. Keith tried desperately to get ahold of himself, but the pain that was now clenching in his legs hurt worse than a charlie horse. “Ah, ah, Hunk help me!” he hissed, tears starting to form in his eyes as he tried to massage his aching leg.

    Through developed instinct, Lance sprinted towards Keith, quickly flopping onto his head and nudging Hunk aside as Keith started to wail from the pain shooting up his leg. Lance didn’t care if he was tired and wanted a shower anymore (because he smelled awful), he had a job, a job to protect Keith. It didn’t matter what he needed, Keith needed him even more.

    Keith stopped crying and settled into quiet sniffles as Lance ran his hand up and down his legs, calming the tense muscles.

    “Hey, it’s okay.” Hunk said calmly, still a little bit in shock because of what happened. He rubbed Keith’s back gently as Keith settled down again. Lance made note that Keith’s hair had grown another inch as he studied him for any signs of something that could indicate anything worse.

    “…Here.” Lance mumbled, using Keith’s legs to pull him closer. Keith slid awkwardly across the bed until Lance gathered him inside of his lap and used the closer position to more effectively loosen the muscles in his legs. Keith breathed quietly with relief as he rested his cheek against Lance’s neck.

    Sadly, that wasn’t the most awkward moment of the night. Hunk helped Keith throw up while Lance slept a good three hours before it was his turn to take what was now called ‘the night shift’. That meant not only putting Keith to bed, but also that he had to somehow force Keith into the shower again. He’d only been able to do this once, which really ticked off Lance considering the fact that both of them smelled terrible and Keith was greasy and sweaty. At least if Keith got a shower he got one too. But Keith hated it.

    “Please Keith-”

    “No.” he choked out through some vomiting.

    “No offense but you literally look and smell like a sewer rat.” Lance didn’t really think he wouldn’t take offense to that, but it had to be said.

    “You’re not much better.” Keith snarled, baring his teeth like an animal. His canines had gotten sharp, like a wolves. Apparently that was a rarer side effect that Lance had read about a long time ago.

    “Exactly. If you let me help you I can shower too, okay?” Lance grumbled back, crossing his arms as Keith panted over the toilet bowl.

    “No! I’m not sitting in front of you in my underwear!”

    “It’s better than smelling like this!”

    “No it’s n-” he ducked his head back into the toilet bowl wheezing and coughing until everything came out of his stomach.

    “I’m the only person who can do this.” Lance sighed, “Look, I don’t like this any more than you do but if Hunk comes in here again he’s going to keel over and die. We smell like actual crap right now.” Keith looked like he wanted to argue, but he didn’t.

    “…Fine.” he grumbled, “Fine, just let me keep my underwear on.” Lance definitely wasn’t wanting to see Keith naked anytime soon, so he didn’t argue with that, carefully stripping himself and Keith.

    It was awkward. Like, really _really_ awkward. At least the first time Keith was partially asleep so he didn’t really know what was going on, but boy did he know now. It was weird enough being with your rival and having to take care of them, but being in the shower. Yeah, really awkward. Especially when both of you were only in shorts

    Keith was so weak he could hardly scrub through his hair. His hands were shaking violently enough that it was impossible for him to soap up, so Lance was forced to do it. He got over with his arms and legs as fast as he could, but made sure to wash his hair carefully. And though he would never admit it, Lance loved Keith with long fluffy hair like this. He loved running his fingers through it and playing around with it while Keith rested quietly against the shower door, cheeks flushed a deep red. Lance carefully tangled his fingers in and out a little bit longer before drenching Keith again with the shower head and scrubbing all of the soap out.

    “…Sorry, I know this is awkward.” he mumbled, “But at least you smell a little better, right?” Keith didn’t reply, his lips pulled into a frown. He was definitely uncomfortable, judging by the way he was squirming on the little stool Lace had set in the shower for him to sit on.

    Lance felt bad he had to do this.

    “Er, here.” he mumbled, grabbing the towel nearest to him and beginning to towel Keith dry. But as he slowly ruffled his hair, he realized that Keith had already fallen fast asleep.

    Lance used that opportunity to change his clothes and spray Keith’s room with some sort of altean air freshener until everything smelled normal and Keithy again.

    And as every night before, he carefully tucked Keith in and set a bowl besides him in case he needed to throw up. Then, as always, Lance settled into his own nest on the floor, getting nice and comfy before turning off the lights and sighing deeply. At least he would be able to get some sort of rest.

    “…Thank you Lance.” Keith mumbled suddenly from his bed, startling Lance. “Thank you for everything…I’m sorry for never saying that.” for a minute, Lance thought that was all Keith had to say, but, “I’ve just…I’ve never had to depend on somebody else before. This is so weird and painful and awkward…I…I hate feeling like this, but…thank you for being there for me anyways.” it was only then that Keith stopped. He must’ve been blushing a lot, because Lance could see the tint of red on his ears, even in the dark.

    “…No problem.” Lance replied softly, making Keith’s ears get even redder, “…I guess, I owe you a bit of opening up too then huh?” Keith stayed quiet, waiting for Lance to continue, “…You’ve been scaring me…a lot.” Lance admitted quietly, “I’ve been so worried about you. I feel like if I leave you alone for more than a second you’ll get hurt.” Silence fell between the two of them for a moment as their words sunk in. Keith didn’t know what to do. He hardly knew what to say. But thankfully, there was no pressure for an answer. So Keith didn’t answer, falling asleep only minutes after it was uttered.

    Lance suddenly felt a little panicked “…You asleep?” he asked, feeling almost tense. When there was no reply, he figured Keith had dozed off.

    Lance didn’t get much sleep that night.


	4. Part 4

**Keith**

    Keith and Lance never talked about that little conversation after it happened, but Lance had teased Keith a lot less after it, if at all. It made it a lot easier for Keith, seeing as they weren’t arguing in between his terrible cramps and vomiting. The yelling while he was using the bathroom had been both awkward and frustrating, so he was glad they weren’t doing that anymore.

    As of now, the first two weeks had finally passed and he had been blessed with a single, average, day.

    Keith walked around, he talked to everyone and found out that Shiro was feeling a little bit better, so they talked for a little bit, Lance lingering in the doorway (seeing as he was still concerned). Keith even got to fly Red down for a simple mission, which honestly made him feel so much better. He even got to eat dinner with everyone (which was slightly awkward seeing as nobody wanted to talk about Keith’s elephant in the room). It was going great, and for a while everyone thought he might not shift through the rest of the stages. After all, he’d been able to keep down a heck of a on of food goo for the past twelve hours, so, there didn’t seem to be a problem. Even Lance was slowly starting to think so too.

    At least…until night rolled around.

    Keith had snuggled into bed and Lance insisted on sleeping in the nest besides Keith’s bed, just in case. And Keith let him. He knew Lance was still worried, so…he didn’t mind. After all, Lance had been especially kind to him recently. And honestly, Keith really liked that. Of course Keith liked it though…considering that humongous crush. Now it seemed to have a purpose. The crush made more sense and he honestly kind of liked it. But regardless, he tried not to think about it as he settled down into his covers, closing his eyes and preparing for a final full night’s sleep.

    Sadly, that didn’t end up happening.

    _Keith was somewhere he recognized from a long time ago, an old galra base. There were sentries chasing them down the halls. Keith screamed, grabbing for his bayard but realized it wasn’t there. Neither was his shield. He had no armor, only his boxer briefs and a white t-shirt. The clothes he had always worn as pajamas. Keith was completely exposed to their bullets. And boy was he screwed._

_Keith took off through a door and down the hallway, screaming and crying as he bolted down the hallways, running for his life. ‘I’m going to die’ kept running through his head over and over again. He could hear the metallic footsteps growing closer and closer with every second._

_“Keith!” they yelled in a voice that sounded too familiar for comfort. Keith ran faster and faster until his legs ached._

_No, he couldn’t let them catch him. He had to be there to form Voltron. He couldn’t die so pathetically. How could he have been so stupid as to forget his armor and bayard?_

_“No!” Keith yelled, tears streaking down his cheeks. He couldn’t let himself get caught. He needed to live. He needed to be there. No. Please no._

_Keith turned a bend in the hallways, hearing his name being called over and over again. The footsteps were getting louder which only mean they could be closer. And just as Keith thought he might be able to lose them through the airlock, a hand clamped onto his arm._

_Keith screamed and cried as he was dragged away from his escape. No. No, no, no. Please god no!_

_“Let me go! Let me go! Please! Please let me go!” he begged, shrieking as he watched the sentry aim the gun at his head. “No! No! Please stop! Please-” the gun fired._

    Keith screamed, panting as he finally woke up. He was drenched in water in the middle of the hallway. In front of him was the airlock. The person holding him was Lance.

    Lance was white as a sheet, his breathing shaky as he looked at Keith. Keith realized he was crying and shaking all over. He was terrified, completely terrified. The dream was so vivid, so real. He’d felt the arm, he’d felt the tears. He’d almost felt pain when the gun fired on him.

    Keith sobbed, not even caring if Lance was watching. He just wanted a hug and someone to tell him it was all going to be okay. He wrapped his arms tightly around Lance, crying into his chest.

    Though still a little put off, Lance picked up Keith anyways and held him close, walking him back to his room. Keith got a glimpse through his tears at the clock.

    Five. Five in the morning.

    “It’s okay.” Lance whispered, his face crumpled with worry. Keith couldn’t stop crying. He still felt like his life was in danger and he couldn’t shake off the feeling. “It was just a dream, it wasn’t real.” Lance turned on the lights in Keith’s room, walking over to Keith’s bed and settling down. “It’s okay. Don’t cry, don’t cry.” he continued to whisper softly, holding Keith carefully and shifting so they were laying in bed besides one another.

    Lance reached out and moved a piece of hair out of Keith’s face. By now, it was far past his shoulders, flowing everywhere. Lance actually kind of missed his mullet.

    “Everything is okay. You’re safe.” he repeated softly, holding Keith closer as he sobbed. “We’re in your room, I’m here and there’s nothing in here that could hurt you. Nobody is chasing you, nobody is hurting you. Everything is okay. Just relax, I’ve got you.” this just made Keith cry harder. He was still traumatized and the mention of being chased and hurt wasn’t making it any better. “Shh.” Lance whispered softly, “Shh, it’s okay-”

    “No it’s not!” Keith blubbered, hiding inside of Lance’s shirt. Lance paused for a moment, completely unsure of what to say. Keith sobbed loudly, enough that Allura actually checked in on the coms.

    “Keith? Keith what’s happening?” she asked, her voice slightly slurred with sleep. Lance reached up, pressing the button to talk back.

    “Just a really bad nightmare.” Lance mumbled.

    “…Okay, I’ll inform the others.” she mumbled back, switching it off for the night. Lance turned back to Keith who was crying desperately in his arms.

    Keith had no idea, but he had sleep walked, or more of sleep ran out of his room. Lance had chased him, desperately trying to get him back to bed, but he only managed to wake him up with a freezing water bottle he’d grabbed on the way.

    Lance carefully stripped Keith of his ruined shirt, going right back to hugging him.

    “It’s okay. It’s okay sweetheart.” Keith couldn’t even hear him over his own sobs. “Shh…none of this is real baby. You’re safe here with me, I swear.” Lance gently stroked Keith’s hair, calming him just slightly with his soft touches. “You’re safe.”

    Thankfully, Shiro came. According to Allura the rest of the paladins hadn’t woken up. But despite Shiro being sick, he came anyways. The minute he walked in, nose running and face heated with a fever, Keith felt relief (but also a little guilty).

     “Hey Keith. Come here.” he sniffed, voice still nasal from the cold. He bent down, scooping up his brother into his arms and kissing his forehead.

     Keith was grateful that, at the very least, Shiro woke up to take care of him. Lance had been trying, but…Shiro was pretty much the only person who could calm him down when he was like this.

    They all lied down in his bed together, smushing Keith like a sleepy sandwich until he cried himself dry and rested against Shiro. Lance fell asleep spooning Keith’s back, but thankfully Shiro stayed wide awake, braiding his little brother’s hair.

    “…Do you think you can sleep now?” Shiro asked softly, unbraiding and re-braiding a piece of Keith’s hair.

    “Maybe.” he croaked, keeping himself close to Shiro.

    “Do you want me to stay or do you want me to leave?” he asked in a gentle voice.

    “No! No….please don’t.” Keith begged.

    “Don’t worry, I won’t unless you want me too.” Shiro replied, calmly running his fingers up and down Keith’s back. “I know this has been hard on you.” this made Keith frown deeply. He didn’t really want to think about this problem, but if he was going to be forced to, he might as well confide in Shiro about it.

    “I just…I don’t understand why it has to be me? Why do I have to go through this?! It’s not fair and it hurts and…I’m supposed to be the strong one, I’m not supposed to cry over a nightmare Shiro!”

    “Strength has its limits.” Shiro said softly, “…And weakness can have benefits.” his eyes turned to Lance who was still peacefully spooning Keith’s back. Keith finally seemed to realize what was going on.

    “…Oh.” Keith mumbled, his throat suddenly dry.

    “…He hasn’t left you for more than two hours these past few weeks, you realize that?” Keith nodded, his throat still felt dry, but it wasn’t necessarily bad. He was just kind of embarrassed to have this be pointed out. “He’s set aside his skincare routine to take care of you, you know that right?” Keith actually didn’t know that. Which ended up making it all the more embarrassing. “…Going through this has brought you two closer. You’ve been able to be vulnerable around someone who isn’t me. You’ve been able to cry out all the feelings you’ve kept bottled up inside of you for so long. I know this has been painful and awkward, but look at the good that’s come of it. You have a friend Keith.” Shiro whispered softly, moving aside Keith’s flowing hair to press a kiss to his forehead. “And I’m sure he loves you just as much as you love him.”

    That night, Keith didn’t sleep anymore.

* * *

**Lance**

 

    Keith was no longer throwing up or having cramps, which was great, but now he’d kind of turned into a vampire. Lance knew the effects of the second phase were oversensitivity to light and stuff, but it turns out Keith literally couldn’t open his eyes unless the light was really, really down. As in, ‘can barely see’ kind of down. Obviously Keith could, but, he couldn’t.

    And as if that wasn’t enough, Lance had to talk in whispers, even though Keith had headphones clamped over his ears. Sounds had become excruciating for him recently. Not only that, but Keith couldn’t speak quite right, making everything a little bit hard to understand.

    One of the worst of all was the problem with his hips. They had literally changed color from his normal skin to a bright and irritated red. Lance only noticed when he’d forced Keith into the shower again. Keith had managed to tell him (in a way he could understand) that he felt like there was fire burning on the outside of it; or that’s at least what Lance got out of it seeing as Keith said ‘fiiiire buuuurn hereee’. So he had to constantly put a cooling pack or at least some ice on the spot. And in other words, his pants and bed were always soaked.

    But of course, the very worst were the night terrors and the sleepwalking.

    Lance had been forced to take anything sharp or anything breakable out of Keith’s room and put it into his own, because if he didn’t Keith would either break or stab something during the fits. Not only that, but Lance had to lock Keith’s door with a physical bolt or else he’d try to run out and throw himself either into an escape pod or out of the airlock. Keith would scream and throw himself against his door every night until Lance managed to wake him up and let him cry himself back to sleep. That was always the worst. Not only because Keith would be traumatized, even when he woke up, but because he would cry.

    Shiro had come the first three nights, but had overexerted himself doing so and was no in a healing pod for the next few days. So Keith only had Lance. Sure, Lance could coax him to sleep, but when Shiro did it he got Keith back to sleep so much faster.

    What made it hard was the fact that Lance didn’t even know what these dreams were about. He had an idea based on what Keith would scream. He assumed he was trapped in a galra base, but he knew that every night it changed, becoming worse and worse. Keith would scream louder and cry harder, he would beg for mercy and would plead to be let go.

    Last night Lance had woken up to Keith on his knees, hands clasped together. He was all sliced up. Keith was sobbing his eyes out, begging for whoever was in his dream not to hurt Shiro. Lance remembered with a horrifying clarity that Keith had found some sort of knife Lance didn’t know about and was about to cut himself open as a sacrifice until Lance grabbed the knife out of his hands and woke him up.

    The thought made him shiver.

    Thankfully, last night had happened at least ten hours ago and Keith was still traumatized, but much less than this morning (not to mention his hips didn’t hurt either); so Lance brought out his holo-phone and turned the brightness down as low as it would go.

    “You’re happyyyy.” Keith slurred. Lance could tell he was trying his best to talk like he always did, but that was a side effect of the second phase apparently. He literally couldn’t help it. Lance laughed a little bit, not to make fun of Keith of course, but because of what he’d said.

    “Yes, I’m happy.” Lance smiled softly, scooching next to Keith in his bed. Lance had been tense since he found Keith with the knife in his hands. Thankfully this morning Keith had taken the rest of his knives, only two, and promised Lance these were the only other ones he had. So Lance now new Keith was safe, but he was still terrified. “Here, I have a book.” he offered, holding up the screen to reveal some words scrawled across it. Keith’s face lit up a little as Lance crawled even closer than before, gathering Keith into his lap.

    “What arrre you-”

    “Making you as comfortable as possible for story time!” Lance exclaimed softly, pinching Keith’s cheek. He huffed a little bit, pushing Lance’s hand away and adjusting the sunglasses on his face. Thankfully, Keith didn’t argue, settling peacefully against Lance’s chest.

    Keith was tired, very tired. He had bags under his eyes large enough to carry a flat screen tv in them. He was tired constantly, unable to function without a lot of effort. Little naps led to nightmares which jolted him awake instantly. Long nights of sleep were filled with the night terrors that only got worse and worse. He cried nearly constantly and only got about an hour or two of sleep a day. It was hell.

    But Lance understood how tired Keith was and he knew that this would at least help him untense long enough to gain some sense of relaxation.

    “It’s just a fairytale I wrote a while ago.” he said, shrugging, “…You want to-”

    “You’re worrieeed.” oh…right. Over awareness.

    “…Yes. You know I am, but it’s okay. You know I’ve been worried all week.” he said softly, shuffling an clearing his throat to begin the story,

     “Do you thiiink I’m gonnaaa killll myselfff?” Keith slurred getting ‘the look’ on his face. Lance hated ‘the look’. He hated how Keith’s face scrunched up when remembering those traumatizing night terrors. He hated it more than anything.

    “I’m not going to let that happen.” Lance replied quietly. He felt confident, there was no possible way Keith could hurt himself any more than he already had, Lance would ensure that. “I will protect you.” before Keith could say anything in return, Lance wrapped Keith into a tight, loving, hug. “I promise.”

    Lance punctuated his promise with a kiss on the cheek, which was totally platonic (or that’s what Keith thought, much to his dismay) and began to read the story softly.

 

    “…The End.” Lance finished quietly, looking down at Keith. He was fast asleep, breathing quietly. He looked so small and squishy from this angle. His slightly smushed cheeks, his fluffy black hair. Everything about him was so…loveable.

    A bright blush crept onto Lance’s cheeks as he remembered that he got to kiss his cheek just a little while ago. Keith hadn’t minded, so Lance wondered if he could maybe…possibly…do it again?

    He leaned down, carefully brushing aside Keith’s bangs in the most tender way he could think of, though Keith wouldn’t be awake to blush under his fingers. He wondered…if maybe…just maybe, Keith liked him as much as Lance did. But no, that was impossible.

    Lance was just about to give Keith’s forehead a little peck with his lips when Keith started screaming bloody murder. He kicked in his sleep, thrashing around madly until Lance fell to the floor, his head crunching against the metal. Lance groaned, his body completely fuzzy and limp for a moment.

    “NO! NO!!!” Keith hollered, panicked and disheveled. He walked around frantically, as if he was looking for something. “Clothes, clothes, where are my clothes?!” he screamed, tearing through Lance’s blanket nest. “No…no, no, no.” he cried desperately, “Why….” Lance held his head, able to function though now he had a headache.

    “Hey baby, it’s okay. Come back to bed.” he said as softly as he could manage. Keith fell onto the floor, screaming and flailing as he crab walked backwards at lightning speed.

    “NO! NOOO!!!” he sobbed. Lance grabbed the bottle of water he always kept to wake Keith up, carefully uncapping it. “STOP!” Keith screamed, “STOP IT! STOP IT! I DON’T WANT SEX!” 

    This made Lance pause. For a horrifying moment, he realized the dream had been his fault. 

    He’d tried to kiss Keith without his consent. Though this was definitely an extreme interpretation of that, but…he still felt at fault.

    Before Keith could scream again, Lance splashed the water on his face.

    As always, Keith sobbed a good half hour away while Lance placed him carefully in the bath, holding his hand as he scrubbed through his hair. At least the water relaxed him far more than cuddling in bed. And especially after that dream….

    “…Are you okay?” Lance mumbled, forcing his voice not to crack. He felt horrible. Keith’s bottom lip trembled as he shook his head no. Lance tried to ignore the horrible guilt inside of his as he rinsed Keith’s hair off and toweled him dry. Keith’s muscle’s were at the very least relaxed now. So, that would avoid any crazy reactions to stress. But…it didn’t make Lance feel any better about what he’d done.

     Keith trembled as Lance walked him back to bed, but as they got close enough to get in, Keith froze.

    “No.” he whispered, backing away. Lance immediately stopped climbing into his bed, getting out right away. Keith started hyperventilating. “No, no, no.” he grabbed the sides of his face, his eyes going wide with a crazed panic.

    “No, shh, it’s okay.” Lance tried to coax Keith to calm down, but it just wasn’t working.

    “I don’t want to have sex, I don’t want to. I don’t…I don’t want to. No. Please don’t make me do this. Please don’t, I don’t want have sex. No, no, no. Please, please don’t-”

    “Shh.” Lance whispered, “You don’t have to do anything. I won’t make you do anything. Whatever happened, it wasn’t real, it was a nightmare. There is nobody in that bed.” he reached up, carefully cupping Keith’s face in his hands. “And don’t worry, I’m not just bi, I’m ace too, ’kay? I would never do anything like that in the first place.” he said, brushing the tears off Keith’s cheeks with his thumbs. “There we go. You’ve got nothing to worry about. You’ve got nothing to be scared of.” he coaxed, a lopsided smile on his face.

    “You’re guilty.” Keith mumbled, looking horrified. Lance’s smile dropped immediately. Oh no. Oh god no.

    “No, no, no. I’m not lying to you. I’m telling the truth-”

    “You’re guilty…” he repeated, horrified.

    “Keith, I swear, I won’t hurt you. I don’t even-” Keith was too afraid to listen to reason. He shoved Lance out the door, slamming it shut and locking it firmly into place. “No! Keith! You can’t be alone! Keith you’re going to hurt yourself!”

    “Stay away from me!” he yelled back through the door, crying his eyes out. Lance was panicking at this point. Keith wasn’t going to open the door. Keith wasn’t safe, he wasn’t okay…

    Lance did the first thing he could think of and called Hunk over.

    Hopefully it was the right choice.


	5. Part 5

**Keith**

    Keith knew he shouldn’t have shoved Lance. He knew Lance hadn’t been lying to him. He had become hyper aware of Lance’s feelings along with everybody else’s, so he was sure of it. Lance must’ve just felt guilty for not helping or something, but Keith was too afraid to really think.

    Thankfully, before Keith could further mess things up Hunk knocked on the door softly. Keith let him in.

    “…Hey.” he said softly, looking at Keith curled up on the floor, shaking madly. “…So, Lance told me what he thinks the dream was about. You wanna talk about it?” Keith shook his head, still crying. “Okay, that’s alright. I probably wouldn’t want to relive that either.” Hunk carefully scooped Keith up into his arms, “Want to sleep in my bed tonight?” he offered. Keith nodded madly.

    As Hunk carried him to the safety of his bedroom, Keith watched Lance wipe some tears off his face and walk back into his room. Now Keith was the one feeling guilty. At least…at least he couldn’t be stupid in Hunk’s room. Keith could never imagine hurting Hunk’s feelings. It was too hard, and practically a sin against humanity itself it he did.

    “There we go.” Hunk said, beaming proudly down at Keith who was now snuggled into Hunk’s absolutely humongous bed. Keith was still feeling a little weepy and vulnerable, but the minute Hunk began to snuggle with him, he felt a lot better.

    Hunk was not only the human pillow, but the human heater. Hugging him was like hugging the world’s best and most comfortable teddy bear in the universe. And somehow, that comfort made Keith feel the need to confess something.

    “…I’m afraid.” he mumbled quietly against Hunk.

    “Afraid of what?” Hunk asked calmly.

    “Sex.” Keith barely whispered, “…It’s…one of my biggest fears.” Hunk didn’t act confused or make fun of him like Keith thought he would. Instead he turned to Keith with the most understanding look he’d ever seen. Keith would’ve cried out of relief had he not completely emptied himself of tears.

    “Why is that?” he asked very calmly. Keith let out a shaky breath.

    “It’s…not for any reason. I’ve never been abused or…or anything. I just…it’s weird. That dream I had, I didn’t…I didn’t have sex but I thought someone was…was about to force me to. I don’t know I just…I just…” Keith let out a dry, hollow sob, “I don’t know why it scares me but it does. That was the worst dream I’d ever had.” he cried, unable to produce the tears that were very much needed right now. “And Lance was feeling guilty so I don’t know why but I was scared and I pushed him out of my room and-”

    “You’re hyperventilating.” Hunk said calmly, carefully trying to get him to stop before he burst a lung. “…There’s no reason to get worked up, okay? It’s all over and Lance understands that you were just scared. He’s good at reading emotions and needs. I bet he’s changing the entire mattress in your room as we speak.” Keith managed to relax, still a little off put, but much less so than before. He breathed quietly for a few moments, hiccupping just a little bit before resting his head against Hunk’s shoulder and falling fast asleep.

* * *

**Lance**

 

    Lance was beyond relieved when Keith apologized the next morning, his voice slowly slurring over as they sat in the dark of his room, whispering to one another.

    To pass the time that week, they played a bunch of games on Lance’s holo-phone and just normal ones. Ping pong, chess, checkers, never have I ever, truth or….well, truth since Keith couldn’t do the dares, and every night Lance read softly to Keith until he fell asleep (despite the fact that he would wake up only a couple hours later screaming and crying).

    But by the end of the two weeks, Keith was a pro at phone ping pong and Lance had figured out all of Keith’s secrets, including the deep fear Keith had shared with Hunk that one night. But to be fair, Keith now knew Lance’s fear of loneliness and that dumb story of him getting lost as a teenager in a theme park.

    However, sadly only the second stage was over. They still had one more to go through. But Keith used his day of freedom despite his anxiety of what to come next. He flew red briefly before seeing Shiro for about ten minutes, but by then he was so exhausted that he slept for two straight days and only got up three times to use the bathroom and stuff his face with food goo, one day into the next set of stages. Thankfully, that meant he skipped the extreme nausea part of the effects, but sadly nothing else.

    The morning Keith woke up, it was total madness. It was starting to give Lance ptsd from caring for his pregnant sister. The second his head was off the pillow he started begging for potato chips. That’s all he wanted, potato chips. So Hunk made enough to feed an army and Lance delivered. But worst of all were the mood swings.

    Lance knew Keith couldn’t help it, but it got weird really fast. Either he was screaming with rage, bursting into laughter, crying over nothing or making goo goo eyes at Lance for whatever reason (which…he kind of thought was cute). But despite it being odd, Lance couldn’t bring himself to care. They had carefully crafted a trust between one another during all of this, a trust that was hard to break. He could tolerate this for just two more weeks. After all, he’d done it for four months.

    But Lance was wrong. There was one thing that was the hardest to stay calm during.

    “Your face is red, do you have a rash? The text said something about irritation, I-”

    “No.” Keith mumbled, looking a little flustered as Lance reached out and rubbed his finger along Keith’s cheek. “…You just…look nice.” …oh. Goo goo eyes mood swing it was. Lance was such a sucker for that (but even more than he realized).

    “Well, you _always_ look nice.” Lance said, the pickup line incredibly pathetic as he flicked Keith’s hair. It was cut back to its normal length, only without the mullet. The look was adorable, and Lance honestly kind of wanted to tell Keith that, but held himself back.

    Keith’s face got extremely red, but a soft giggle came out of his mouth. Lance couldn’t help it when a blush started to grow on his cheeks.

    “…I don’t think I could’ve gone through this without you.” Keith mumbled, all flustered and blushy as he played with his jeans by picking at them quietly. During this part of his mood swings, Lance had noticed that he was very touchy feely. He always ended up saying and confessing to things he normally wouldn’t. “You’ve…done so much for me. You’ve sacrificed all of your free time and been there for me, even when I’ve been difficult. I can’t tell you how much that means to me.” he admitted, looking up at Lance with doe eyes. Lance thought he was going to lose it and kiss Keith right then and there, but he forced himself back, way, way back.

    “What can I say, you’re pretty great.” Lance smiled brightly, allowing himself to give Keith a playful flick under the chin. Keith turned as red as a sunset on Varadero beach, continuing to stare wordlessly at Lance with his big, cute eyes. Lance thought he was going to spontaneously combust. He made Keith blush…with the help of mood swings, but Lance felt accomplished nonetheless. He decided it wouldn’t hurt to try again. “Are you from space, cause you’re out of this world.” he winked and made finger guns, a smirk on his face.

    “Oh my god, I’m getting cavities.” Pidge suddenly moaned from the kitchen counter. Being the oblivious idiots they were, neither of them knew what she meant as she walked out of the kitchen. Hunk kind of snickered as he pulled some more homemade space chips out of the oven.

    Keith’s face blossomed a new shade of red as he stared up at Lance a little bit longer before replying.

    “Y-you must be the corn maze at the county fair, because I’m getting lost in your eyes.” he replied, voice giddy. Lance felt his jaw hang open. Keith flirted back. He flirted back! Lance nearly screamed.

    “…Well, are you a rose? Because if you went by any other name you would smell just as sweet.”

    “Lance, look, I love some of your pickup lines but this is actually hurting my soul.” Hunk called from the kitchen. Lance rolled his eyes, watching Keith nervously nibble on a space chip.

    “…Do you like my smell?” he asked softly, voice barely audible. Lance was definitely not expecting that question, but he found himself answering nonetheless. He liked blushy Keith, and couldn’t help but submit to that question.

    “Of course.” he said slightly dramatically, unable to hold the blush back on his own face.

    “…I really like your smell too.” Keith mumbled back shyly, still playing with the hem of his jeans. God, Lance wished he could listen to Keith compliment him this way forever. It was the cutest thing in the whole world. Lance reached over, squishing Keith’s cheeks in his hands.

    “Aw, you’re so precious.” he teased just the slightest bit, smashing an irresistible kiss to Keith’s nose.

    Keith froze, hardly able to breathe. Sure, Lance had kissed him before, a small one on the cheek a while ago, but now he was practically high off his own emotions. He could hardly control himself right now he wanted to kiss Lance so bad. The crush he had on him had lasted so long he didn’t know what to do with himself. So Keith sat, completely bewildered once again.

    The two stared at each other for a moment, the tension high. Both of them wanted a soft kiss on the lips, but both of them were afraid of how the other would react. So the much needed kiss on the lips didn’t happen.

    It was then that Keith started to cry again.

    …Great. Lance sighed deeply, feeling a little bit guilty. The happy and slightly daring Keith was gone. He couldn’t help but think that may have been his fault.

    “Hey, I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have kissed you.” he apologized softly, letting go of Keith’s cheeks. It was probably best if he brought Keith back to his room, he needed privacy. He knew Keith hated being holed up in his room, especially after being forced in there for four weeks, so he brought out Keith when he was either making goo goo eyes or laughing his head off. But Keith got embarrassed easily, especially over his emotions. It was obvious he wouldn’t want the other paladins to see him in such a weak state like this.

    “I-it’s okayyy.” Keith finally sobbed back, hiccupping and hyperventilating at the same time. “Why a-am I crying?” Lance carefully helped Keith get to his feet, gently swinging an arm around his waist and helping him walk shakily back to his room.

    “I don’t know why, I’m sorry.” Lance said softly. He’d read a little bit about the mood swings to get an idea of it. The whole process was to an extreme. The ‘sad stage’ as Lance called it, was almost like having some of the worst depression a person can get (which explained why he was crying for no reason). The ‘happy stage’ was the equivalent to being on a major sugar high, ‘angry stage’ was kind of hard to describe, but it was just like having really bad anger issues. But the ‘goo goo eyes’ were what confused Lance the most. There was nothing in the manual that really described the state. All it said was that there was one extremely rare mood swing that caused intimate exposure. Lance wasn’t exactly sure what that meant. Maybe the exposing of all of his secrets? Because Keith was spewing them out pretty fast during that stage, but otherwise Lance had no clue of what that could mean.

    Keith cried in his bed for a good two hours, then went on a rage rampage where he essentially threw the world’s most terrifying temper tantrums known to man. Then soon after he was in a weird fit of giggles again and started doing somersaults on the floor, which was hysterical but also confusing. But that ended quickly when Keith started gasping desperately for air. What made it worse was he couldn’t stop laughing.

    “Keith?” Lance mumbled, slightly terrified as he helped his friend off the floor. Keith was half choking half laughing….difficulty to breathe. Right. “I need you to just relax a little bit.” Lance said calmly. To his immense relief, Keith calmed down and started to make doe eyes at him again, which he much preferred to choking.

    Keith breathed heavily as he leaned into Lance, almost as if on instinct.

    “You’re taking my breath away.” he grinned sheepishly. Lance felt a blush crawling up his neck.

    “Wow.” Lance laughed, “That was pretty bad.” Keith kind of giggled, but nonetheless rested happily against Lance. “…You’re getting…kinda close.” Lance mumbled softly, wrapping his arms around Keith regardless.

    “I like to be next to you.” Keith panted quietly.

    “Me too.” Lance said softly, feelings his mouth quirk up. Lance didn’t know how much more of this intimacy he could handle without collapsing in on himself. Sure, they cuddled a lot these past few weeks, but Lance never knew that Keith actually really liked it. Lance had just assumed he was being used for a temporary comfort buddy…not as someone Keith actually wanted to be around. “You’re very cuddly.” Lance smiled.

    “Yeah, you’re warm and you smell good.” Keith giggled a little, burying his face into Lance’s neck. Lance felt all of the air leave his body as they cuddled a little bit closer. Keith breathed in the scent of Lance softly, enjoying every moment the smell entered his nose. He loved it more than anything. And before Keith could stop himself, he found himself pecking Lance’s neck with gentle, tiny little kisses.

    “W-woah, what are you-”

    “Kissing you.” Keith felt giddy as he moved so he could kiss Lance’s cheek. Before it could happen, Lance kind of leaned away.

    “H-hey. Just to get this straight I am totally okay with you kissing me.” Lance said calmly, still kind of leaning away, “I love getting kisses, but…remember you’re still kind of… _off_ right now. I don’t want you to do something you’d regret, alright?” he said softly. Keith nodded, hesitating for a minute. He couldn’t really understand what Lance had said. All he wanted was to kiss him. So he did. A nice, gentle and long one right on the cheek.

    “I love you.” he giggled. Lance felt like he might actually die. That little speech had obviously went right over Keith’s head.

    “I love you too.” Lance said back, practically swooning. He obviously meant it as more than a friend, but the way he said it made it seem like that wasn’t true. Nonetheless Keith was satisfied and kept on kissing.


	6. Part 6

**Keith**

    Keith wasn’t sure why, but he constantly wanted to kiss Lance. Well, it wasn’t like it was any different than before, except now, there was nothing holding him back for some reason.

    When Keith wasn’t angry or crying, he was almost always snuggled in Lance’s lap, even when he was slap happy. Lance had made a deal that Keith could kiss him only twice every day and not on the lips or anything below the neck (Keith was fine with the neck thing, but the lips, not so much). Keith wasn’t sure why this rule was made, but, he kind of saw the purpose.

    The two weeks passed by rather slowly, seeing as he was constantly going through phase after phase of mood swings. But he much preferred being unaware and confused compared to those awful night terrors. Although having to pee twenty four seven and finding it really hard to walk and breathe wasn’t the most fun. Of course the irritation had to be on his thighs and in his throat, so his voice got all raspy and it got harder every day to walk and do things as simple as using the bathroom. But the worst only came the last day of the final phase.

    To Keith’s surprise and utter humiliation, everyone had made him a cake to celebrate his soon freedom from his suffering. Being in his slap happy mood, he was obviously thrilled (but still a little embarrassed) and ate half the cake. It was all fine and normal, Lance was holding onto Keith, giving him a gentle birthday kiss on the forehead, Pidge and Hunk were screaming as they aimed part popper things at each other, and Allura, Coran and Shiro were all discussing things happily.

    But everything stopped as Keith started to feel something sticky and hot on his face. It wasn’t necessarily painful, the feeling was just…really, really weird. Almost disgusting. Keith shivered uncomfortably, the weird slap happiness inside of him suddenly leaving. He felt as though nothing had fogged his mind over in the first place. He no longer needed to go to the bathroom and breathing became less of a chore. His thighs didn’t hurt so much and the weird craving for tomato sauce was gone. Keith suddenly relaxed deeply, feeling so much better. He was free…right?

    Why was everyone looking at him?

    “O-oh god.” Hunk turned around, and looked like he was going to be sick. Allura had both hands over his mouth and both Shiro and Pidge’s eyes had gotten as wide as owl’s. Lance ran and grabbed a giant roll of towels, suddenly starting to fret over Keith’s and smush the towel to his face,

    “Hey! What are you-…” Keith froze at the sight of his own blood on the towels.

    “Allura, get his bathtub full!” Lance shouted. Thankfully, it wasn’t only Allura who rushed off, everyone trailed behind her to help, leaving them alone.

    “What’s going on?” Keith asked, feeling frantic, “Everything’s supposed to be back to normal, why am I bleeding?”

    “This is the final stage.” Lance muttered, getting a little bit paler as he coaxed Keith to stand up. “I-I read more into it. Just saying, you’re going to change a lot, okay? And we have to get you in the water as soon as possible.”

    “Why?”

    “Because as soon as you stop bleeding you’re going to be in a lot of pain if you’re not in the water.” Keith didn’t argue with that, walking quickly with Lance. Without realizing it, they had grabbed onto each other’s hands.

    Of course, realization chose to come at the worst of times.

    “Wait…” Keith begged suddenly. Lance paused just for a moment, this sounded important. “…I kissed you.” Lance threw his hands up in exasperation.

    “Yes! A lot of times! But come on, we have to go, I don’t want to see you in pain like that again-”

    “Oh god, I’m so sorry, I don’t know what I was-”

    “Keith, I’m serious it’s fine. Let’s talk about this when you’re safe.”

    “But-”

    “Shut up Keith!” Lance yelled, dragging Keith into his room. Thankfully the other paladins had already left, so Lance l closed the door behind them and slipped into the bathroom. On instinct he reached for Keith’s shirt and pulled it over his head, stripping Keith down to his boxers before Keith could protest. Keith blushed awkwardly as Lance helped him crawl into the bathtub, sighing with relief when he was finally submerged inside. “…Okay.” Lance sighed with relief, wiping more blood off of Keith’s face. “…Let’s just….let’s just talk, okay? I know you have a lot of questions.” Keith thought that was an understatement.

    For a while, Keith said nothing, feeling awkward and exposed as he sat there in his boxer briefs in an altean bathtub. But…the curiosity was killing him.

    “…Did I really kiss you?”

    “Not on the lips, but…yes.” Lance answered, his cheeks getting pink. Why did they get pink?

    “God I’m so sorry-”

    “No! No, really…it’s fine.” Lance confirmed, making sure he knew it was okay.

    “…And did I really…did I really tell you all of that stuff?”

    “What do you mean?” Keith really didn’t want to go further into it, but he knew that Lance genuinely didn’t understand what he meant, it was only fair since Keith was going to at least get some sort of answer, and hopefully some reassurance.

    “Just…about me being thankful for your help and how you look cute and smell nice and…” Keith trailed off, feeling more awkward as he went on. Lance gulped suddenly, face bright cherry red.

    “…Yeah, you told me all of that stuff.” he mumbled, pretending to be really interested in the bathroom carpet.

    “…Oh.” Keith kind of squeaked. This was awkward too awkward to be comfortable. Keith could feel the stress already settling in. The worst part about Lance hearing that stuff was that…Keith had meant it all, every last bit of it. He was genuinely thankful Lance had cared for him. He really did care about Lance and he really did love Lance. But what ate him away was the question ‘did Lance like him back’?

    Keith felt like he was going to throw up as Lance wiped some blood from Keith’s nose.

    “…I don’t think you’re weird.” Lance mumbled softly, “…All that stuff you said meant a lot to me.” Keith couldn’t speak, “Really, I’m just glad I was able to help you with something. It feel nice to be there for someone, you know? And I mean, you telling me you love me was really nice to hear, even though I know you probably didn’t mean it-”

    “I did mean it!” Keith interrupted completely on impulse. The second it came out he regretted it, clapping his hands over his mouth.

    The both of them went red as cherries.

    Lance stared for a moment, completely baffled by the words Keith had said. He hadn’t expected that _at all_. The only one more baffled than Lance was Keith. How could he have been so _stupid_?! Why did he blurt that out?! He felt like a total idiot as they stared at each other a little bit longer. He really didn’t want to have the ‘what are we?’ talk right now. Especially not when he was in the bath in his underwear and Lance was wiping blood off of his face.

    Lance was the first to get the courage to speak again.

    “…You love me?” he asked breathlessly. Keith forced himself to nod face getting deeper shades of red with every second. “….How do you love me? In what way?” he asked, voice still breathless. Keith didn’t want to answer. He felt like he was going to burst. He kind of wanted to cry, but also maybe even laugh. It was clear that Lance was eager, that he was excited for the response. And that could maybe, just _maybe_ mean that Lance…

    “…It’s just…before this, I already kind of though you were…cute.” Keith mumbled, watching Lance’s eyes get impossibly wider and hi face get impossibly redder. “But…as you took care of me and helped me when I needed it the most…I realized that I’m sort of in love with you?” Keith could barely squeeze it out, not even able to keep his eyes open as he admitted it. This was honestly the worst time. He was bleeding, half naked and a total mess. But Lance seemed to think this was the perfect time.

    Before Keith could admit anything else, their lips were meeting. Lance cupped Keith’s face gently in his hands, pulling him just slightly over the bathtub so the pressure on their lips was just a little bit deeper and even more comfortable. Their noses bumped as Lance moved their heads a little bit, tilting for the maximum comfort levels. Although, Keith wouldn’t say it was super comfortable seeing as he was bleeding all over Lance’s face.

    They kissed for almost a full minute. Keith felt awkward and stupid, seeing as he’d breathed into Lance’s mouth like six times, but it made him feel better when he noticed Lance’s hands were shaking on his face. Lance was nervous too.

    Keith remembered that during one night of never have I ever, Lance had put one of his fingers down at ‘I have never kissed anyone on the lips before’, to which he later verbally confessed it in a nervous way. Keith felt a strange wave of relief. This was his first kiss too. Lance was being clumsy too. Lance was nervous as he was and it was okay. This was really okay. Because honestly, these six weeks that were supposed to be the worst of his life turned out to be the best. Weakness did have its benefits. And Lance choosing to take care fo Keith was probably the best decision he had ever made.

    They finally broke apart, panting softly for air. Lance’s fingers lingered on Keith’s face, shaking just a tiny bit as they held him there. Lance was smeared with blood, so was Keith and some had dripped on the carpet. They were both messes, but…that was okay. Keith was happy and so was Lance. Everything felt perfect (despite the fact that it kind of wasn’t).

    “I love you too.” he mumbled a little bit awkward, smiling the most adorable bashful smile Keith had ever seen.

    But just as Keith was really starting to soak that in…life decided it had other plans for Keith. A sharp pain pierced his ears and his arms and legs. Keith whimpered loudly, going limp. Before he could fall into the tub, Lance caught him carefully and held him against his chest for a moment before putting his head back on the water, making sure Keith’s nose was out so he could breathe.

    Keith didn’t know what was happening, but he didn’t like it. It had interrupted his perfect moment with Lance. He felt all fuzzy and weird. Thankful the pain wasn’t unbearable, but it was definitely agitating, especially in his ears. But the pain grew, almost like a flash of lighting. It stung and burned, making him thrash around in the water. He couldn’t imagine what this would feel like out of the water. And just as Keith thought he would be able to handle the pain….he passed out.

* * *

**Lance**

 

    Lance watched with both worry and fascination as Keith’s hands grew little specks of purple. None traveled further than his wrists, but they colored his skin in such a beautiful way. It was the same with his legs. The purple covered just a little bit of his feet and the specks didn’t go past his ankles, but wow, were they amazing or what? Thankfully Keith had passed out, so he didn’t feel pain, but Lance still felt bad for him.

    Lance watched a good five minutes Longer as Keith’s ears grew longer, poking just slightly out of his hair. Fur puffed out of them, creating the cutest little ears Lance had ever seen in his life. He decided he would pet them constantly the minute that Keith woke up.

    The process only took ten minutes, ending much faster than Lance expected. Keith was still knocked out, but Lance used the opportunity to dress him in knew, comfortable clothes and carefully dry off his ears.

    Once Keith was lying in bed, Lance moved everything back into Keith’s room, carefully setting each object in its desired place. And thankfully, he finished by the time Keith sat up, confused.

    “Wha-” Keith mumbled, stopping in the middle of rubbing his head to look at his ear in his mirror. “Oh…that’s new.” he mumbled, stroking the soft fur on his ears. Then his eyes met Lance. Lance gave him a sheepish smile sitting down on his bed carefully.

    “That was bad timing for a first kiss, huh?” he asked softly. Keith nodded a little, feeling a blush grow on his face. Lance allowed his fingers to intertwine with Keith’s speckled purple ones. Keith smiled bashfully as Lance brought up Keith’s hand to his mouth, pressing a kiss to it.

    “…I’m so glad this is over.” Keith sighed deeply, resting against Lance’s shoulder. “…Thank you so much Lance…just…you’ve been for me all this time, I-”

    “Hey…no need to cry over it.” Lance said softly, moving to press a kiss to Keith’s face. Keith stopped blubbering, smiling a little bit again. “Really, don’t thank me. I’m just glad I got to spend some time getting closer to you and getting to know you. That means a lot to me too.” Keith didn’t know how to respond to that, going quiet with both embarrassment and gratefulness.

    “…You still love me, even with my ears?” he asked. Lance laughed,

    “Of _course_ I do!” he grinned. Keith laughed a little bit too, calming down and looking at Lance with an affection he couldn’t keep hidden.

    “…I love you too.” he mumbled, moving to kiss Lance on the lips. It lasted long enough for Keith to think of how thankful he was to have this boy in front of him right now. Though these six weeks had been torturous, Keith couldn’t have asked for anything better, especially now that he got to kiss Lance as much as he wanted.


End file.
